Peralta helps Brewers beat Cards 5-1 and stop skid

Milwaukee Brewers' Carlos Gomez slides home safely on a Jonathan Lucroy two RBI single off of St. Louis Cardinals' Seth Maness during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 16, 2014, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

Wily Peralta allowed one run in 6 1-3 innings, and the Brewers beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Milwaukee, which entered the series with a nine-game winning streak, had one run and six hits in losing the first two games to St. Louis. The Cardinals won last year’s season series 14-5.

“What’s really important – most important – is we lost two games to begin the series and we got that game back,” Roenicke said. “It’s important against our division, but we have to win more games than they do. It’s not head to head. We have to win more games this season then they do. That’s what we’re playing for.”

Peralta (2-0) allowed six hits and struck out three, and three pitchers combined for scoreless relief.

“He was a show-stopper today,” Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “He stopped their momentum and shut them down. He was a lot of fun to catch.”

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly (1-1) gave up an unearned run and three hits in four innings. Kelly left in the middle of the fourth inning with left hamstring tightness after trying to beat out a bunt attempt in the top half.

“I felt like I tried to step a little quicker, maybe a little overextend and hit the bag a little bit before it and ended up tweaking it,” said Kelly, who said he was scheduled to return to St. Louis for additional examination and treatment. “I was feeling pretty good. I had three pitches working for me first time the whole year. I had a slider, and a pretty good curve ball breaking down and had some velocity on my fastball and was locating it.”

Milwaukee went ahead in the third inning when first baseman Matt Adams misplayed Logan Schafer’s leadoff bouncer for an error, Peralta sacrificed and Carlos Gomez hit an RBI double to the wall in right-center, one pitch after bunting foul.

The Brewers boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fifth against Seth Maness. Wily Peralta reached when his two-out liner went off the glove of shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Gomez walked, Jean Segura reached on an infield single, Lucroy followed with a two-run single and Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single.

“I saw the replay,” Roenicke said on Wily Peralta’s hit. “I thought the ball did something funny on him. When they showed the replay from the center-field camera, you can see the ball slowly turn over, which gives you the idea it’s going to knuckle a little bit. It kind of jumped behind him.”

Allen Craig hit his first home run of the season, a sixth-inning drive off Peralta. Pat Neshek walked pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded in the eighth.

NOTES: Ryan Braun, still bothered by an ailing right thumb, was held out of the starting lineup. Braun, hitting 269, has three homers and 10 RBIs – but all the homers and seven RBIs came at Philadelphia on April 8. … Roenicke is pleased with the defensive play of new 1B Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay. Brewers’ first basemen had 21 errors last year, including 10 by Juan Francisco. “I did hear when we first got him, through the grapevine, that he’s got good hands,” Roenicke said of Reynolds, primarily a third baseman for much of his career. “He doesn’t have great foot speed, but range-wise, he does a nice job.” … Official scorer Tim O’Driscoll originally credited Wily Peralta with a single in the fifth, then changed it to an error on Jhonny Peralta, then after the game ruled it a hit for Wily Peralta.

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